Summary of Noli Me Tangere

SUMMARY OF NOLI ME TANGERE
A. BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE STORY
Noli me Tangere or “ Touch Me Not” is the first novel written by Filipino patriot
and national hero Dr. José P. Rizal in 1887 and published in Germany. A novel is a
fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some
degree of realism. The story line goes detailed with the society of the Philippines during
Spanish colonial period and features aristocracy behind poverty and abuse of colonialists.
In its publication, the novel caused an uproar among Filipino people that also felt Spanish
abuse. Noli me Tangere was followed by its sequel, El Filibusterismo (1889) before
common Filipinos crossed the borderline and started the infamous Philippine Revolution
in 1896, some month's before Dr. Rizal's execution.
B. BRIEF BACKGROUND ON THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THE AUTHOR
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was born on June 19, 1861 – December
30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist and polymath during the tail end of the Spanish colonial
period of the Philippines. He is tagged as the national hero (pambansang bayani) of the Filipino
people. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the
Filipino Propaganda Movement, which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain.
He was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after
the Philippine Revolution, inspired in part by his writings, broke out. Though he was not actively
involved in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals which eventually led
to Philippine independence.
Rizal entitled this novel as such drawing inspiration from John 20:13-17 of the Bible, the
technical name of a particularly painful type of cancer (back in his time, it was unknown what
the modern name of said disease was). He proposed to probe all the cancers of Filipino
society that everyone else felt too painful to touch
C. SUMMARY OF THE STORY
Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin, commonly referred to as Ibarra, has been studying in
Europe for the past seven years, though he is a mestizo Filipino. As he arrives back in the
Philippines, his friend, a prominent man named Captain Tiago, hosts a reunion dinner. Ibarra had
been in Europe for such a long time that he doesn’t know what has been going on in the country.
At dinner, Father Dámaso, who Ibarra thought was friends with his father, treats him badly,
which surprises Ibarra.
As Ibarra is walking home from the dinner, another family friend, Señor Guevara,
follows him and tells him that Ibarra’s father died in prison after a campaign of slander against
him, and that Father Dámaso had a hand in his death. Father Dámaso had accused the elder
Ibarra of not going to confession, and after Rafael Ibarra inadvertently killed a man who beat a
young boy, he was imprisoned and attacked with accusations of subversion and heresy. Guevara
tried to clear his name, but he died in prison before he could be freed. The younger Ibarra is
shocked, but unsure of what to do. He goes to visit his old lover, Maria Clara, but as Maria
mentions Ibarra’s family, Ibarra is put off.
Instead of seeking revenge, Ibarra tries to follow his father’s footsteps of peace. After meeting
with a schoolmaster who knew his father, he plans on establishing a public school to help his
hometown. Yet the schoolmaster warns him that Father Dámaso meddles in the school system,
preventing students from learning Spanish and demanding that he beat the students. Ibarra
pitches the idea of the school to town officials, pretending that he wants to work with them on it,
and they agree.
Meanwhile, two young boys, Crispín and Basilio, work as sextons to support their

impoverished mother, Sisa, who is abused by their father. When Crispín is falsely accused of
theft, the brothers must work even more. When he protests, Crispín is severely beaten,
while Basilio escapes. He returns the next day to look for his brother, but can't find
him. Sisa looks for both her sons, losing her mind as she wanders the area in search of them.
Ibarra goes to his father’s grave, seeking peace. He is shocked to discover that his father’s corpse
was removed and supposedly put into a Chinese cemetery at the order of the town's curate—
Father Dámaso.
During the town's festivities, Ibarra and the officials plan to celebrate the new school,
hoping to bless it after a sermon by Father Dámaso. During the sermon, a mysterious man
named Elías approaches Ibarra, warning him of a plot to kill him. Elías had been the boatman on
an earlier excursion Ibarra took with friends, but after the excursion, Ibarra discovered he was a
wanted fugitive.
That night, Father Dámaso invites himself to a dinner Ibarra is hosting. He insults both
indigenous Filipinos and Ibarra’s father specifically. He punches Father Dámaso, but before he
can kill him, he is stopped by María Clara.
Ibarra is excommunicated, and María Clara falls ill, then is reengaged to a new man after
her spineless father calls off her wedding to Ibarra. Meanwhile, the Captain General, the highest
Spanish official in the novel, manages to lift Ibarra's excommunication, angering the clergy.
Ibarra continues working on the school, and Father Salvi, who is in love with María Clara, plots
with Lucas, the brother of a man killed by the plot intended to kill Ibarra at the festival, to frame
Ibarra for a rebellion, organizing people with grievances against the colonial government and
telling them that Ibarra is leading the revolt. Right before the attack happens, Father Salvi warns
everyone, claiming someone told him about it in confession.
Ibarra is thrown into prison, having been found guilty based on a letter he wrote to María Clara
before leaving for Europe years ago. Again, Elías rescues him, breaking him out of prison and
taking him to María Clara. She explains that she gave Father Salvi the letter that led to Ibarra
being found guilty because he blackmailed her: he knew that her real father is Father Dámaso,
and threatened to reveal this information. She apologizes to Ibarra, profoundly sorry.
Elías and Ibarra row away, but they quickly realize they're being followed by another
boat, which will soon catch up. Elías jumps off the boat to confuse their pursuers, who think he
is Ibarra and try to shoot him while the real Ibarra escapes. They appear to kill him, but they
never see his body.
María Clara tells Father Dámaso that she can't marry Linares, the man she is now
engaged to, and threatens to commit suicide if she is not allowed to enter a convent. Because a
newspaper reported Ibarra is dead, she cannot bear the thought of being married to another man.
Father Dámaso reluctantly agrees.
On Christmas Eve, Basilio wanders away from the cabin where he's been staying with an
adoptive family and looks for Sisa, his mother. He finds her, but she doesn't recognize him and
runs away. Finally, he catches her and faints, and she dies of shock, having finally recognized
him. Elías appears, telling Basilio that he is about to die, and asks Basilio to put his body with
Sisa's on a funeral pyre. "I die without seeing dawn’s light shining on my country…You, who
will see it, welcome it for me…don’t forget those who fell during the nighttime," he says.
D. ANALYSIS OF THE STORY
Jose Rizal mirrors its creator’s persistence in attaining freedom from the Spaniards. True
enough, as Rizal aimed to redeem the country and its people by exposing the barbarity, greed,
cruelty and ignorance of the Spanish colonizers, his work reflected the struggles of the Tagalogs
— being the first to project such a bold account of living in the 1800s in the Philippines.
Likewise, as “Noli Me Tangere” portrays the different aspects of gaining independence, Jose
Rizal focuses on social climbers, abusive power, family devotion, self sacrifice, and purity and
faithfulness. The value of the novel is the nationalism and patriotism.

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SUMMARY OF NOLI ME TANGERE

A. BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE STORY

B. BRIEF BACKGROUND ON THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THE AUTHOR

Meanwhile, two young boys, Crispín and Basilio, work as sextons to support their

D. ANALYSIS OF THE STORY

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